First Witch: When shall we three meet again? In thunder, lightning, or in rain?
Second Witch: When the hurlyburly's done, when the battle's lost and won.
Third Witch: That will be ere the set of sun.
First Witch:: Where the place?
Second Witch: Upon the heath.
Third Witch: There to meet with Macbeth.
Second Witch: When the hurlyburly's done, when the battle's lost and won.
Third Witch: That will be ere the set of sun.
First Witch:: Where the place?
Second Witch: Upon the heath.
Third Witch: There to meet with Macbeth.
— Macbeth, Act 1, Scene 1, 1-7
Mayor: Master Betty, might I inquire — what is the Evil Council's plan?
Master Betty: Nnnng. It is EVIL! Mnyah! It is so EVIL! It is a bad, bad plan... that will hurt many... people... that are good. I think it's great 'cause it's so bad!
Mayor: I see. (I think...)
Master Betty: Nnnng. It is EVIL! Mnyah! It is so EVIL! It is a bad, bad plan... that will hurt many... people... that are good. I think it's great 'cause it's so bad!
Mayor: I see. (I think...)
Alfred Woden: Mr. Payne, I would like to introduce you to my colleagues in what we call, "The Inner Circle"
Max: You've been watching too much X-Files.
Max: You've been watching too much X-Files.
You got this 'pulling the strings from the shadows' act down to an art: there isn't a single decision-making body left in the country where the Illuminati don't have any representatives, and yet nobody knows who you are! If you don't like something, you get someone to change it; if you can't change it, you buy it and then change it anyway! Kudos, my friend- it's the American way.
— Senator Cicero, The Secret World
John Sheridan: Who are you?
Justin: Now, that's really not important...
Sheridan: Who are you?
Justin: Who decides that the workday is from 9 to 5 instead of 11 to 4? Who decides that the hemlines will be below the knee this year, and short again next year? Who draws up the borders, controls the currency, handles all of the decisions that happen transparently around us?
Sheridan: (incredulous) I don't know.
Justin: Ah. I'm with them.
Justin: Now, that's really not important...
Sheridan: Who are you?
Justin: Who decides that the workday is from 9 to 5 instead of 11 to 4? Who decides that the hemlines will be below the knee this year, and short again next year? Who draws up the borders, controls the currency, handles all of the decisions that happen transparently around us?
Sheridan: (incredulous) I don't know.
Justin: Ah. I'm with them.
—Babylon 5, "Z'ha'dum"
It's all about power: grabbing it, keeping it, using it... Power is our currency, our DNA, our God.
We control the world. We provide the blueprint and we give the instructions. We're the people in grainy photos on grassy knolls; we're the shadowy faces in smokey backrooms and darkened boardrooms. We're right here, hiding in plain sight, buying and selling favours: blackmail, treason, deceit- these are our stock in trade.
We work the magic of the drunken evenings with senators and chiefs of staff. We shake down demons, and negotiate with sorcerers. We have stocks in Hell, and compromising photos of Angels. We use any means necessary regardless of the cost, because the world is a bad place, and you can either do or get done.
We're The Illuminati... and we're not done.
We control the world. We provide the blueprint and we give the instructions. We're the people in grainy photos on grassy knolls; we're the shadowy faces in smokey backrooms and darkened boardrooms. We're right here, hiding in plain sight, buying and selling favours: blackmail, treason, deceit- these are our stock in trade.
We work the magic of the drunken evenings with senators and chiefs of staff. We shake down demons, and negotiate with sorcerers. We have stocks in Hell, and compromising photos of Angels. We use any means necessary regardless of the cost, because the world is a bad place, and you can either do or get done.
We're The Illuminati... and we're not done.
— Illuminati faction trailer, The Secret World
First Cabal Member: We need to have Bauer arrested on trumped-up charges again before he finds out what we're really planning, which will have nothing whatsoever to do with anything that has happened so far.
Second Cabal Member: What are we really planning?
First Cabal Member: Those episodes aren't written yet.
Second Cabal Member: What are we really planning?
First Cabal Member: Those episodes aren't written yet.
— "24: The Ultimate Script" by Dave Barry
Mulder: Those messages were relayed purposely.
Scully: By whom?
SF Debris: Evil people, DUH! Who else? You know, men who sit at long tables in poorly lit rooms full of cigar smoke, who talk about how they're going to controool the wooorld!
Scully: By whom?
SF Debris: Evil people, DUH! Who else? You know, men who sit at long tables in poorly lit rooms full of cigar smoke, who talk about how they're going to controool the wooorld!
Outside of Endron headquarters, literally no-one knows who makes Endron policy. This is not a canard, but rather the frightening state of affairs: all important decisions have to be passed up the chain to corporate HQ to to be decided on by the movers and shakers of the company. Who are those individuals? No-one outside the inner circle knows. Rather, employees half-jokingly refer to the unseen decision-makers as "Them." All responsibility and power ultimately rests with "Them," whoever they might be - the average Endron employee honestly has no idea. Mind you, the names and faces of corporate officials appear in annual reports and the like, but everyone from middle management on down knows that those men and (rare) women aren't the real powers that be. "They" keep themselves well-hidden from even their own.
—Werewolf: The Apocalypse - Subsidiaries: A Guide to Pentex
"The Conclave entered into the room.
Inside of it they sat, these cardinals of doom.
Their votes was unanimous.
The horror, instantaneous!"
Inside of it they sat, these cardinals of doom.
Their votes was unanimous.
The horror, instantaneous!"
— Zlad, "I Am the Anti-Pope"
"...the shadowy council of mysterious people who secretly rule the world."
— Noah Antwiler (Insistent Terminology for what he saw as the inadequately-explained World Security Council in The Avengers), The Spoony Experiment
He still had his secrets, though there were many who plotted and schemed in smoke-filled rooms to wrest them from him, many who saw him as the ultimate block to their acquisition of power.
— Deathlands, "Pilgrimage to Hell"
General Ironicus: The Patriots are basically a bunch of stoned eighth-graders who come up with shit like: "Wouldn't it be cool if...?" And then they have limitless resources to make it happen.
Chip Cheezum: Pretty much.
General Ironicus: (chuckles) "What if there is a boat with every weapon? And it filtered the entire Internet?"
Chip Cheezum: Pretty much.
General Ironicus: (chuckles) "What if there is a boat with every weapon? And it filtered the entire Internet?"
The talk was that strange, slight talk which governs the British Empire, which governs it in secret, and yet would scarcely enlighten an ordinary Englishman even if he could overhear it.
— "The Queer Feet", from The Innocence of Father Brown by G. K. Chesterton
